


Birds of Passage

by GardenTheGates



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2020-01-04 11:55:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18343190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GardenTheGates/pseuds/GardenTheGates
Summary: Nothing burns slower than the sun.Sun King Avad knows all about being thrust into a title and responsibility he never was prepared to have. Now, Aloy is learning the same lessons. Common ground can begin with rocky starts, and in a world where secrets and lies are sown into the soil, sometimes all you need is someone who understands you.Takes place post-game, and explores the new world Avad and Aloy are responsible for.





	1. Not What She Expected

**Author's Note:**

> Hey-o! So I know this isn't the chapter of Under the Bridge that I probably should be posting buuuuuuut I just finished my first playthrough of HZD and the Aloy/Avad tag is woefully barren. I needed to fix this asap.
> 
> And so! Here we have a short introduction chapter to kick things off! Theres not a lot of in-game romance so I'm hoping to build off of what is already there, while hopefully getting the characterization relatively faithful.
> 
> Welcome to this slow-burn (hah) journey! Might change the rating later, depending on where this goes (we'll see how steamy this gets later on)

The Sun King had not been what Aloy was expecting.

On her journey to Meridian she had pieced together the history of his father’s rule and ensuing downfall. Half the people who spoke of Avad held a soft reverence fitting for a sun god, while the others spoke in hissing whispers of his traitorous claim to the throne. Most of those people ultimately ended up silenced by a sure arrow through the heart, though that was due to the other countless deeds of treachery the Shadow Carja committed.

When she met him the first time she was almost shocked into silence by how young he looked. He could not have been much older than her, yet his deeds, his history had been so vast. Though, she supposed, her own story was becoming more and more tangled.

Despite all this, he had been gentle to her, a welcome change from the furtive glances and insults slung at her from his nobility. He had deflected her comments of his prestige with a boyish grin and a wave of the hand as if she had mentioned he was rumored to be allergic to boar meat. In her dealings with the palace she had often observed him joking with his guards or sneaking some sugared almonds to the serving boy eyeing his plate when Marad was not looking, much to the continued astonishment of those he showed friendship to. The titles, the honor, seemed nothing to him, and Aloy could not help but feel endeared to him because of this.

Even when she was rejecting his advances in the wake of his grief over Ersa, he handled it with a grace and deference she would not expect from a man his age, let alone a King surrounded by everything he could ever ask for. It was an anomaly to her, a puzzle she had yet to find the answer to, or even the right question.

The last time she had seen him she was running into the fray of battle, to confront Helis. And while she knew many men and women who would have treated her coldly or at least indifferently after sidestepping their advances, the fear in his eyes and the panic in his voice as he called after her spoke of a still underlying fondness. “He will cut you down!” He had shouted as she unseated her grappling hook from her hip. While it may at first have seemed like he doubted her ability, she was insightful enough to know he was scared for her. In all the panic and chaos, while his city was beset by machines and explosions, he spared worry for her.

As she walked into the palace a day after the battle had ended, smoke still softly rising from the ruins of the city, she absent-mindedly touched the place on her arm he had grabbed. He was no god, true, but he was a good man. A man who cared about his city, his people, his friends…and, it seemed, her.

The thought process was suppressed as she saw him there, hunched over a writing desk with the ever-present Marad listing off locations to him. Places in the surrounding city that had been destroyed, she realized. Places that had refugees in need of help. It seemed the battle was won but the work had just begun. It reminded her of her own responsibilities. She knew the Nora needed her now more than ever, to rebuild, to hope, and to understand. While the spiteful part of her still held a grudge against the clan that disparaged her as a child only to praise her as their herald now, Rost’s voice was always in her head reminding her of duties.

She would do this, if not for them, for him.

“Avad?” The king looked up with a jolt from his paperwork. She could see the sunken bags under his eyes, despite the growing grin spreading across his features. While she had passed out in the barracks almost immediately last night, it seemed like the king had barely slept at all.

“Aloy!” He exclaimed, jumping to his feet and rushing over to grasp her hand in both of his. “I am so glad to see you, relatively unscathed.” He grinned coyly at her before letting her hand drop. Marad cleared his throat behind them, and Avad immediately took a straighter stance, seeming to remember himself.

“Our radiance was just going over notes before the small council meeting, but as always it is a pleasure to see you Miss Aloy.” The spymaster bowed his head respectfully but continued to stand dutifully by the desk full of papers.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she started, suddenly feeling nervous. “I..I just wanted to tell you the Nora will be leaving tomorrow at daybreak. We have a lot to rebuild back in the Embrace and-“

“You’re going with them?” Avad interrupted softly. She could see his shoulders droop slightly under his stole though he tried maintaining as much composure as he could. “Of course, why would you not.”

She paused thoughtfully, trying to figure out the most political way to word her own inner turmoil over the matter.

“There are…things I would like to attend to. But I think they’re going to have to wait a while.” She thought of Elisabet, out there somewhere with no one to mourn her, to bury her. Aloy would find her not-mother some day, but she knew the desire was selfish on her part. “The Nora need someone right now…need me. The tribe has been through a lot, as have your people, and there’s a lot they don’t quite understand. I think I’ve somehow put myself in a position to guide them, for whatever that’s worth.”

“I think that’s worth a lot.” Avad smiled tenderly at her, then cleared his throat and turned away from her. “I understand feeling a sense of responsibility to your people. I will not stand in your way. We can’t offer much in terms of assistance but what we can spare is yours, of course. Will you be staying the night at least?”

“Yes. We still need time to gather supplies and move the wounded. I’m still trying to convince War Chief Sona to let me hitch a cart to a Strider for her, since her leg is all kinds of broken. But she’s still pretty wary of machines, and definitely full of pride. Hopefully Varl can convince her.” She felt herself rambling, be it from excess nervous energy or the unchanging stare of Marad that always made her just a little uncomfortable.

“It seems you have your hands full then.” Avad straightened up some papers and flashed her another lopsided grin. “Well I was planning on hosting a celebratory feast later on in the week, but as it seems you will be absent for that would you be willing to join me for dinner tonight?” He looked at her hopefully, then, as if realizing what he had said sputtered out “-a-and Erend of course. And perhaps Vanasha and Talanah. Petra seems to need a break from her soldiers as well. I’m sure you have a number of friends who wish to see you off before you go.”

“I’d like that.” She offered back, which seemed to ease him a bit.

They stood there smiling at each other for a longer moment than perhaps was necessary before Marad cut in again. “Your radiance, the council-“

“Ah! Right of course. I’m sorry, Aloy-“

“Worry about your city, not me.” She shot him another small smile, and awkwardly bowed her head before turning on her heel and jogging down the palace steps, grin still clinging to her lips.

He was good man indeed, and a good friend.


	2. Link

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avad has a plan to make good on his promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the wonderful response to the story! I hope to keep you all interested going forward. Please continue leave comments and tell me what you think!

"You know you don't have to come if it makes you uncomfortable." After her conversation with the king Aloy had found her way back to the Nora and was sorting through her garments for something not blood-stained; the task was proving near impossible. Varl had found her there and she had of course invited him to come along with her that night. He promptly accepted but constant pacing and jabbering on about the dangers of staying in Carja territory for too long was getting a bit tiresome.

"I'm not letting you go in there alone," The young hunter replied earnestly. "We may be at peace for now...but Sona says you should never let your guard down. They're not like us, Aloy."

" _I'm_ not exactly like you Varl. If you remember I've spent all but maybe two weeks outside of the tribe." She cocked her eyebrow at him as his pacing stopped. He looked properly admonished at that, at least.

"That's not...you know what I meant."

Aloy sighed and stoop up from her pack, airing out one of her tunics she had bought in Meridian ages ago.

"Varl we just defeated a demon machine with a whole army of fanatics and death bringers at his disposal. I doubt the king of a city in ruins and the soldiers we  _both_ fought beside are going to launch an ambush at dinner. At the very worst we'll be ambushed with some scrappersap. Stay away from that, by the way, if you don't like waking up to a pounding headache. Now hand me those oils, I still smell like metal and sweat."

Varl shot her an exasperated look, which honestly was a welcome change to the hushed reverence he had been treating her with since she came out of that damned mountain. Exasperation she could work with, worship was a different beast entirely. 

"I trust your judgement, Aloy. I just don't trust the Carja." He sighed heavily and and handed her the scented oils. "I'll go, just to make sure you're alright. If anything happened to our anoin-um, to you, my mother would have my head. And I wouldn't be able to face myself either."

 _I'd be more likely to save you in a fight than the other way around_ , she wanted to say. But she bit her tongue and ducked around the changing screen. She was hoping all this anointed nonsense would have died down by now, but, she supposed, it would take time.

 _Change does not come in a single sunrise_. The words echoed tauntingly in her head as she brushed her skin with the scent of lavender and mint. When she had first heard them she all but scoffed. At the time, anything seemed possible if you came at it the right way. These days, she wasn't so sure. There was so much that the Nora got wrong, that the world got wrong, about the Old Ones. She would have to figure out how to sort the myths from the truth, otherwise another Hades could easily take advantage. She couldn't let that happen again.

Brow furrowed she stepped back around the partition in her Carja silks. The fashion of the Carja was a bit...frivolous for her tastes but she had to admit they were well suited to the desert heat. Even if the capitol was a bit of an oasis from the burning sands, the heat was ever pressing and running around in her armor or Nora furs wore her out faster than normal. Maybe, she pondered with a smirk, that's why the nobility here always seemed to laze about. 

Varl raised his eyebrow at the soft, thin fabric that exposed her midriff and fell gently over her curves. He had only really seen her ready for battle, in retrospect. It wasn't often that she felt comfortable enough to let her guard down for an evening, even if she did pick out these trousers for how silently it allowed her to move. She wasn't about to be  _totally_ impractical with how she spent her shards.

"What? Never seen a girl in desert pajamas before?" She smirked at the quick blush that ignited the boy's face and shook her head. "Let's get going. Don't forget to pick your jaw off the floor. There's enough debris in the city as is."

* * *

 

The palace was surprisingly untouched from the carnage and destruction of the battle. A few pillars were shot down, and the bridge was crumbled but for the most part the structure seemed sound and standing. Varl continued to be stupefied, this time by the lavishness surrounding them. 

"This is all for one man?" He breathed, taking in the gleaming domes and towering walls. "It...it seems too much."

"I felt the same way when I first got here." Aloy agreed. Then she nodded over at the row of tents set up in the garden below. "Refugees, at least some of this space is being put to good use."

Varl still seemed unconvinced but was quickly distracted by Vanasha rushing up to the both of them. 

"Aloy!" The woman beamed, taking both of Aloy's hands in her own and then holding them out as if to appraise her. "How nice to see you out of armor for once. Though there's still a few layers you could do without," She added with a smirk. Used to Vanasha's less than subtle advances by now, Aloy merely rolled her eyes with a wry smile at the woman. Varl, unsurprisingly, seemed even more out of his element, which of course Vanasha immediately caught onto.

"You must be Aloy's hunter friend from the Nora," she folded her arms and scanned him up and down, "Varl, yes?"

"Y-yes ma'am." 

"Oh dear, come we will fix...all of that, have you ever had Carja port before?" Vanasha hooked her arm with the unsuspecting Varl's and started all but draggign him into the palace. He shot Aloy a worried look and she shrugged.

"Don't worry she doesn't bite!" She called after them.

"Filthy lies, little huntress!" 

She chuckled and jogged after them. Vanasha led them to what Aloy assumed was the dining area. The table was low to the ground, and the room was littered with pillows and cushions of various colors and hues of Carja silk.  Erend and Talanah were already settled on to some rather plush looking pillows at the table and arguing jovially over what seemed to be Erend's own brew of scrappersap. Talanah was rightfully grimacing over the stuff, something Erend could not let slide. Thankfully he had long given up on convincing Aloy to drink the swill. The group chatted amiably while picking at fruit on the table, the two Nora politely sipping the port Vanasha poured. Thankfully, Varl started loosening up with that and was excitedly talking about the fight with Erend. 

Just as Aloy was starting to wonder about the absence of one individual in particular, Avad stepped through the doorway, his personal guard hanging back just outside the room. She watched his eyes scan the room and land on her, beaming. Though his smile was as wide and radiant as ever she couldn't help but feel a twinge of worry upon noting that the bags under his eyes didn't seem any better. 

"I apologize for my tardiness everyone, but I trust Erend has saved me a drink," the king quirked heading over to the table and sitting down on the pillows next to Aloy. 

"Finally someone with taste!" Erend cheered, pouring Avad a hardy stein and sloshing it over to him.

"I don't know about taste but after the past few days I could use a drink with the strength of the Oseram," Avad replied, before taking a long swig with a smiling grimace. Erend let out a belligerent cheer and started pouring more drinks for everyone. He had been better about his drinking of late, but as the king said these were...extenuating circumstances.

Avad placed the cup down and turned his smile back to Aloy. "I'm glad you could make it," he said softly, leaning in to her so she could hear him over the clanking of steins. 

"I never pass up an opportunity to see Erend make a fool of himself," She shot back with a grin, clinking her own glass of port against his cup. "Cheers."

"Cheers." The king took another large gulp and shook his head. 

"Slow down there, your radiance, you already looked like you could pass out on your feet when you walked in," Aloy quirked an eyebrow a the man, a tinge of concern coloring her light barbing. 

"A king's work is never done," he replied with a heavy sigh, "But it can be paused for a few hours at least. Just...don't tell Marad." He smirked at her for a moment, before his features fell long enough for Aloy to glean he was anxious about something. 

"Everything ok?"

His cheeks turned a rosier shade than before, due to the scrappersap or the heat or some other factor she was not sure but he nodded at her, his hand coming up to rub sheepishly at his neck.

"I...I don't wish to steal more of your time, Aloy. But...I'd like to talk, later, if you wouldn't mind slipping away for a few moments.'

"Should...I be concerned?" The redhead quipped, cocking a curious eyebrow at the king beside her. 

Avad shook his head and grinned at her. "I'll be in the palace aviary tonight. I'd give you directions but I'm sure you'll find it nonetheless." And with that he clapped his hands together, getting the attention of the rest of the table, and leaving Aloy to ponder what could be so secret and urgent that the king required her help again.  But he gave no insight and instead stood and glanced over the plates lining the table. "Now! Who has the roasted boar?"

 

* * *

  

Avad made no more mention of his request to Aloy the rest of the night. The night grew later and the wine skins ran dry and as she bid farewell to her friends she though he might have forgotten altogether. But, as he grasped her hand to bid her good travels, she caught the barest hint of a mischievous smile and wink before he hand dropped and Erend was enveloping her in a hug that almost suffocated her. 

 _Ok,_ she thought,  _just one more covert mission in Meridian I guess._

Aloy and Varl left the palace, much to Varl's relief, and wandered their way through the city streets, mostly untouched in the heart but more and more debris and lingering smoke littered the outskirts of the city. Aloy stopped in the market square, the twinkling lights still illuminating the deep twilight of the rotunda.

"I think I'm going to take a walk," she mused, "I don't know when I'l be back again, I'd like one last look at the city."

Varl stopped in his tracks and gawked at her. "You mean you want to come back here?"

Aloy shrugged and let her eyes take in the architecture around her. "There are worst places to revisit."

To his credit, Varl seemed to bite back any withering comment that came to his mind and instead gave her a wary look. "Just...be careful. The other hunters are prepared to leave at dawn."

"You would make an excellent matriarch the way you mother me, Varl." Aloy quipped, shooting him a sly grin and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I promise the big, bad Carja won't stop me from tomorrow's journey."

With another dubious look, Varl headed back down the winding streets to the Nora camp on the city outskirts. As soon as he was out of sight, Aloy started back towards the palace. It didn't take long for her to walk the perimeter and find a rather tall tower, where if she strained her ears she could hear the calls of birds. That was her target. She scanned the tower and found that some of the bricks protruded just enough for her to be able to scale the sides. Thankfully it seemed the guard rotation was relatively light at the moment, whether due to the late hour or the number of those in the infirmary, she was unsure.  Either way she was relieved she didn't have to work too hard at going unnoticed. She'd hate to get an arrow to the shoulder and have to explain what exactly she was doing.  _She_ wasn't even sure what she was doing.

Before too long she reached the window at the top of the tower, laced with, thankfully dried, bird droppings. She crinkled her nose at that as she hoisted herself into the window. On first glance she saw a number of birds of prey, most with small hoods over their heads and seemingly asleep. A few who were untethered gave a surprised squawk and ruffled their feathers at her arrival but otherwise seemed unbothered by her presence. 

"Aloy!"

She turned her head rapidly  and saw Avad in the far corner of the mews, a large red hawk perched on a protrusion in the wall and pecking at a small piece of meat in Avad's hand. The king gave the rest of the treat to the bird and wiped his hands on his silken trousers.  

"I don't know why I expected you to come through the door, I suppose I should know better by now." The man chuckled to himself and crossed the room to join her by the window. 

Aloy felt an indignant rush of heat spread across her face as she realized this was not the covert emergency she had imagined in her mind. . "Well if you hadn't been so cryptic before maybe I would have just asked the nearest guard to point me in the right direction."

Avad's crooked grin didn't falter as he rested his arms on the windowsill, overlooking the city.

"I apologize, I didn't mean to startle you. I merely thought to spare us both from the withering stare of your Nora friend." He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes, still grinning. 

"Varl is pretty open minded for a Nora..." She started, trailing off thoughtfully.

"But he is, still, a Nora." He finished, nodding solemnly. "It seems the legacy of my father is not so easily wiped clean, no matter how far the reach." He paused and looked at her thoughtfully. "You don't seem to hold the same prejudices, however. You've always seemed to think bigger than any one tribe."

Aloy sighed heavily and mirrored his posture on the window ledge. "I was an outcast from the day I was born. The man who raised me tried to instill the Nora way in me, but I guess I've alway been a bit stubborn." 

He turned to her then, eyes scanning her questioningly. "Erend told me the Eclipse took your father at the Proving massacre. But if you had been outcast from infancy...he was not your birth father then?"

Aloy ducked her head and twirled her fingers. Now was not the time to get into the complications of her birth. She was barely sure she had come to terms with it, and she was not about to subject someone she barely knew to the intricacies of the Zero Dawn. "Rost was my father in all the ways that matter."

Avad lowered his gaze and nodded, "Of course. I didn't mean to offend." He turned her gaze to her again, a small smile tugging at his lips. "I only wish to make good on my promise all those months ago. I wish to know more of you Aloy. I thought we might have more time once the threat of the Eclipse was dealt with, but it seems it was a foolish notion to think you would stay in one place long enough to accomplish that." He huffed a laugh to himself, shaking his head and Aloy could swear that she saw that same flush spread across his features in the moonlight as she saw earlier that night. "Tell me, did your...Rost, teach you to write?"

Aloy couldn't help the bubble of laughter that rose to her throat, imaging Rost teaching her much of anything aside from survival skills. Avad looked at her, mildly alarmed but also amused. " _I_ taught  _Rost_ how to write," she managed through laughter, "not that he ever had much use for it." 

"You...you learned to read and write on your own?" He probed, staring at her with a sense of wonder. "By the sun, I don't know how you continue to surprise me with your impossible feats...yet here we are." 

She grinned at him as her laughter ebbed. "I found this in an old ruin when I was young," she stated, tapping on her focus. 

"Ah yes...I've seen some members of the Eclipse wearing those...devices."

"Well, they perverted the purpose of the Focus, with some...outside help," Aloy mused. "The Old Ones made these to help with learning. I was a pretty curious kid, so I ate up anything I could. Rost tried to keep me from the ruins but...I managed to find documents here and there and pieced things together."

Avad shook his head in astonishment once again. "You...are a wonder," he breathed, causing a rush of heat to spread to Aloy's face now. "Well," he said, placing his hands on the windowsill before turning back to the red tailed hawk he was with before. "All this was a very long preamble to give you a gift." 

Aloy cocked her head curiously at the king and followed him over to the bird, was was appraising her just as carefully as she, it. 

"This handsome bird is Link. The palace has a number of messenger hawks. They normally only fly between two points, to carry letters and documents from one point to another. Link here is relatively young and hasn't been trained to fly anywhere in particular yet, aside from here. I thought...well if you'd like, he's yours." Avad looked at her earnestly, then. "Once you return to The Embrace, give him a few weeks, feed him, and he will return to you. Then you'll be able to send him back here, if you like. We could...correspond." Avad flushed again and cleared his throat looking back to the bird. "Or if you require assistance from the Kingdom or have any further news you will be able to reach us...reach me."

Aloy looked curiously at the bird and gingerly picked up a small scrap of meat from the plate Avad had set out before. Link eyed her over before nipping the meat from her outstretched hand and gleefully gobbled it down.

"That's...very king of you, Avad. Thank you."

The king smiled widely at her and starting rubbing the back of his neck again. "If I'm to be honest, the gift is a bit selfish. I was earnest before when I said I'd like to get to know you better. I hope Link can help with that."

Aloy looked up and locked yes with the king. Through the dim moonlight she could still see his radiant smile aimed directly at her and she couldn't help the feeling of warmth that spread over her at the sight, like stepping into a warm patch of sunlight. 

"I...I'd like to know you better too." 

The pair smiled back at each other, paces, soon to be miles, apart, but ever so slowly getting closer. 


End file.
